Judy: A Dog in a Million

Judy, a beautiful liver and white English pointer, and the only animal POW of WWII, truly was a dog in a million. Whether she was dragging men to safety from the wreckage of a torpedoed ship, scavenging food to help feed the starving inmates of a hellish Japanese POW camp, or by her presence alone bringing inspiration and hope to men living through the 20th century's darkest days, she was cherished and adored by the British, Australian, American and other Allied servicemen who fought to survive alongside her.

A Dog Called Hope

When Special Forces soldier Jason Morgan was left crippled by a mission that went wrong, battling depression and wheelchair-bound, his wife left him, and overnight he became a paraplegic father with three young boys to raise. He had lost the two very things that defined him: his military service plus his family and marriage. As the pain spiked to unbearable levels, he agreed to have surgery to block it. But the doctors' promises that he would keep his mobility proved misplaced.

Let Not the Deep: British Military Quartet, Book 1

A crippled cargo ship drifts helplessly in the face of an oncoming hurricane-force storm. On board, a passenger whose presence means the world is watching. Only the skill, determination and raw courage of a lifeboat crew and the British military forces despatched to save them offer any hope of survival. But set against the savagery of the Atlantic even that might not be enough....

Finding Gobi: The True Story of a Little Dog and an Incredible Journey

In 2016, Dion Leonard, a seasoned ultramarathon runner, unexpectedly stumbled across a little stray dog while competing in a gruelling 155 mile race across the Gobi Desert. The lovable pup, who earned the name 'Gobi', proved that what she lacked in size, she more than made up for in heart, as she went step for step with Dion over the treacherous Tian Shan Mountains, managing to keep pace with him for nearly 80 miles.

Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII

In the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard. So Britain's wartime leader called for the lightning development of a completely new kind of warfare, recruiting a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives to strike behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death.

SAS Ghost Patrol is the explosive true story of the day in 1942 when the SAS donned Nazi uniforms to perpetrate the most audacious and daring mission of the war. Beyond top secret, deniable in the extreme (and of course enjoying Churchill's enthusiastic blessing), this is one of the most remarkable stories of wartime lawlessness, eccentricity and raw courage in the face of impossible odds - a thoroughly British undertaking.

Hunting Hitler's Nukes: The Secret Race to Stop the Nazi Bomb

In the Spring of 1940, as Britain reeled from defeats on all fronts and America seemed frozen in isolation, one fear united the British and American leaders like no other: the Nazis had stolen a march on the Allies towards building the atomic bomb. So began the hunt for Hitler's nuclear weapons - nothing else came close in terms of priorities. It was to be the most secret war of those wars fought amongst the shadows. The highest stakes. The greatest odds.

Gurkha: Better to Die than Live a Coward: My Life in the Gurkhas

In the summer of 2006, Colour-Sargeant Kailash Limbu's platoon was sent to relieve and occupy a police compound in the town of Now Zad in Helmand. He was told to prepare for a 48-hour operation. In the end he and his men were under siege for 31 days - one of the longest such sieges in the whole of the Afghan campaign.

Zero Six Bravo: 60 Special Forces. 100,000 Enemy. The Explosive True Story

The No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling modern classic: A
Bravo Two Zero for the Second Gulf War. They were branded as cowards and accused of being the British Special Forces Squadron that ran away from the Iraqis. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ten years on, the story of these sixty men can finally be told. In March 2003 M Squadron - an SBS unit with SAS embeds - was sent 1,000 kilometres behind enemy lines on a true mission impossible, to take the surrender of the 100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5th Corps.

Buster: The dog who saved a thousand lives

The
Sunday Times top ten best seller. Thousands of lives have been saved by this spaniel. He is a best friend in dog's clothing. An RAF dog with his mossy feet firmly on the ground. A brave dog who has served his colleagues and his country with unstinting devotion. A dog in a million. This is the story of the partnership of Buster and Will, told by Will himself, describing how each came to save the other's life.

It's All About Treo: Life, Love, and War with the World's Bravest Dog

When Dave Heyhoe was sent to Afghanistan to help detect the Taliban's murderous roadside bombs, he knew he'd need a special dog by his side. Luckily for him, his closest pal, Treo, a staggeringly brave ball of energy and mischief was with him every step of the way. The two friends had a miraculous understanding that helped them save countless lives but, as they embarked on a roller-coaster emotional ride, Dave realized he needed Treo more than he could ever have imagined.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, a country house called The Firs in Buckinghamshire was requisitioned by the War Office. Sentries were posted at the entrance gates, and barbed wire was strung around the perimeter fence. To local villagers it looked like a prison camp. But the truth was far more sinister. This rambling Edwardian mansion had become home to an eccentric band of scientists, inventors and bluestockings. Their task was to build devastating new weaponry that could be used against the Nazis.

Operation Relentless: The Hunt for the Richest, Deadliest Criminal in History

The new best-seller from the author of
Zero Six Bravo. By 2007 Viktor Bout had become the world's foremost arms dealer. Known as the Merchant of Death, he was both public enemy number one to the global intelligence agencies and a ruthless criminal worth around $6 billion. For years Bout had eluded capture, meanwhile building up a labyrinthine network of airlines selling weapons to order to dictators, rebels, despots and terror groups worldwide.

Wings on My Sleeve: The World's Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story

The autobiography of one of the greatest pilots in history. In 1939 Eric Brown was on a University of Edinburgh exchange course in Germany, and the first he knew of the war was when the Gestapo came to arrest him. They released him, not realising he was a pilot in the RAF volunteer reserve - and the rest is history. Eric Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm and went on to be the greatest test pilot in history, flying more different aircraft types than anyone else.

The Pale House: Gregor Reinhardt, Book 2

When German intelligence officer Captain Reinhardt is reassigned to a new branch of the military police, his position separates him from the allies he has made. This includes a circle of fellow dissenting Germans who formed a resistance cell against the Nazis. Reinhardt witnesses a massacre of civilians in Yugoslavia, only to discover there is more to the incident than anyone believes. When five mutilated bodies turn up, he knows the stakes are growing more important - and more dangerous....

Rogue Male

An Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country. But he is foiled at the last moment and falls into the hands of ruthless and inventive torturers. They devise for him an ingenious and diplomatic death but, for once, they bungle the job and he escapes. But England provides no safety from his pursuers - and the Rogue Male must strip away all the trappings of status and civilization as the hunter becomes a hunted animal.

The Nazi Hunters

The Nazi Hunters is the incredible, hitherto untold story of the most secret chapter in the SAS' history. Officially, the world's most elite special forces unit was dissolved at the end of the Second World War and not reactivated until the 1950s. Among their last actions was a disastrous commando raid into occupied France in 1944, which ended in the capture, torture and execution of 31 soldiers.

Escaping Hitler: The Freedom Trails

Some of the most extraordinary stories of courage and endurance in the Second World War concern the freedom trails, the escape routes out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Over 5,000 British, Commonwealth and American servicemen made the journey over the Pyrenees, the Slovenian mountains and the Italian Alps. Many also died en route, killed by the perilous conditions or caught by the German army. In this audiobook, Monty Hall recreates the stories of some of the most charismatic figures of the Second World War.

Apprentice - Scarlet City - Part I: An Audible Original Drama

A rags-to-riches tale, Jonah's journey spans the breadth of human experience, from the intricacies of Edward III's political intrigues to the cutthroat world of international trade, from the triumphs of war to the agonies of personal loss - love, friendship, joy, heartbreak and glory. Set largely in London, the Scarlet City, the centre of medieval England, the Scarlet City trilogy is a thrilling portrait of the age and the people who made it so rich, colourful and extraordinary.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

It's 1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

In August of 1914, the British ship
Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October, 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.

Food: A Cultural Culinary History

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."

Seventeenth-century England, and a plough uncovers a grisly skull in the furrows of a farmer's field. The skull disappears, but its malefic influence begins to work in insidious ways upon the nearby village of Hexbridge. First, the cows stop milking and the fruit turns rotten on the trees. Then, an insolent ungodliness takes hold of the local children, mysterious fur patches appear on limbs and people start disappearing.... Something evil is stirring in the woods.

Publisher's Summary

After getting shot down in the skies over France in the winter of 1939, airman Robert Bozdech stumbled across a tiny German Shepherd puppy. He hid the dog, whom he named Ant, inside his jacket, and from that moment on an unbreakable bond was formed.

They flew together with Bomber Command, and when Ant was eventually grounded by the RAF top brass he waited patiently on the runway for his master to return from each and every sortie.

By the end of the war Ant had become a very British hero. Thrilling and moving in equal measure, War Dog is a story of loyalty in the face of extraordinary adversity, and of the unshakeable bond between a man and his best friend.

Where does War Dog rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top

What other book might you compare War Dog to, and why?

It's All About Treo, because they're both about canine heroes

Which character – as performed by Gordon Griffin – was your favourite?

The character of Antis

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Share the experiences of a brave RAF pilot in WWII - and his brave and faithful dog!

Any additional comments?

This book brought me to tears of sorrow - and joy. These are the recollections of an RAF gunner, whose loyal and brave canine companion became a member of the crew in his aeroplane, flying on sorties over Germany, during World War II. The bond between them was unbreakable and their shared trust heartwarming. I recommend this book to anyone with connections to the RAF, a love of dogs and a desire to experience the adventures and setbacks of one man and his dog in a world where life was hazardous if not deadly.